PURPOSE
Numerous normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) models for radiation pneumonitis (RP) have been published in the literature, but minimal consideration is given to their predictive performance. Using several published model parameters, we quantified the range of model performance metrics to differentiate between and assess clinical utility of predictive RP models.

METHODS
Clinical, demographic, and dosimetric data was collected for 453 NSCLC patients treated with definitive photon radiotherapy. A series of logistic NTCP models were developed to assess overall performance. A baseline mean lung dose (MLD) model was considered in addition to our institutions best model, which incorporates MLD and smoking status. The model parameters from several publications were identified and incorporated in the analysis. The considered endpoint was CTCAEv3.0 grade>=3. Metrics of model performance including area under the curve (AUC) and Spearmans rank correlation (rs) were calculated for each of the models to facilitate comparison.

RESULTS
The MLD plus smoking status model performed best in terms of observed AUC (0.685) and rs (0.337); however, model performance was similar to that achieved by all of the other tested models (AUC range=[0.663-0.685] and rs range=[0.263-0.337]). In all considered models, predictive performance was poor (i.e. AUC<0.7 and rs<0.4). Additionally, the narrow range of AUC/rs values indicates that there is marginal difference in the performance of any one model over another.

CONCLUSION
The range of quantitative performance metrics indicates that there is minimal ability to differentiate between the selected models. The achieved values for AUC and rs indicate poor overall model accuracy, which limits the practical utility of NTCP models for RP prediction. Furthermore, model parameters from the literature cannot by applied to our dataset to improve RP prediction. Other model formulations and still unidentified patient factors should be considered to develop more applicable and clinically useful NTCP models for treatment personalization.


Diabetes can spread throughout the ages, from children to the elderly. The benefit of pare for diabetes can effectively decrease blood sugar level. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of giving Pare tea on the decrease of blood sugar level in the elderly Integrated Health Post (Posyandu) of ReksoWerdo RW 03 WonokromoSubdistrict Surabaya. The study design was a Quasy-Experiment, with its population of all diabetes mellitus patients in ReksoWerdo Integrated Health Post (Posyandu), RW 3, WonokromoSubdistrict Surabaya. The sample was 19 people, divided into 2 groups: 10 treated group and 9 control group that were taken by probability sampling of simple random sampling technique. The independent variable was giving pare tea (Tere), and the dependent variable was blood sugar level. The data collection instrument was the observation sheet. The data processing included editing, coding, processing, cleaning, and tabulating. The data were analyzed by using Mann-Whitney test with α <0.05. The result showed that most of the treatment group experienced a decrease in blood sugar levels, while for the control group that did not drink pare tea, half of the respondents experienced an increase in blood sugar levels. The result of the analysis using Mann-Whitney Test obtained ρ = 0.001 <α (0.05), so H0 was rejected, it means that Pare Tea (TERE) was effective to decreaseblood sugar level. Pare Tea (TERE) was effective to decrease blood sugar level, so it is suggested for the respondents to consume pare tea to prevent continual diabetes.


The constitutive activity of the Bcr-Abl tyrosine kinase plays a critical role in the molecular pathogenesis of not only the chronic but also the accelerated and blastic phases of chronic myelogenous leukemia. Therefore, Bcr-Abl tyrosine kinase is a rational therapeutic target in all phases of chronic myelogenous leukemia. Although imatinib mesylate (STI571, Gleevec, Novartis, Basal, Switzerland) produces high rates of complete clinical and cytogenetic responses in the chronic phase, resistance is universal and clinical relapse develops rapidly in the advanced phases of chronic myelogenous leukemia. This resistance has been shown to be caused by specific ATP binding site mutations or amplification of Bcr-Abl gene, resulting in a Bcr-Abl tyrosine kinase that is resistant to further inhibition by imatinib. Alternative (Bcr-Abl–independent) mechanisms driving the growth and survival of the malignant clone may also be responsible for imatinib resistance. Novel tyrosine kinase inhibitors that also target Bcr-Abl tyrosine kinase, or agents that downregulate Bcr-Abl levels regardless of its wild-type or mutant status, may need to be developed clinically for the future therapy of imatinib-resistant chronic myelogenous leukemia.


Storywork provides an epistemic, pedagogical, and methodological lens through which to examine Indigenous language reclamation in practice. We theorize the meaning of language reclamation in diverse Indigenous communities based on firsthand narratives of Chickasaw, Mojave, Miami, Hopi, Mohawk, Navajo, and Native Hawaiian language reclamation. Language reclamation is not about preserving the abstract entity "language," but is rather about voice, which encapsulates personal and communal agency and the expression of Indigenous identities, belonging, and responsibility to self and community. Storywork – firsthand narratives through which language reclamation is simultaneously described and practiced – shows that language reclamation simultaneously refuses the dispossession of Indigenous ways of knowing and refuses past, present, and future generations in projects of cultural continuance. Centering Indigenous experiences sheds light on Indigenous community concerns and offers larger lessons on the role of language in well-being, sustainable diversity, and social justice.


Geo-statistical methods for reserve estimation are difficult to use when stationary conditions are not satisfied. Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) provide an alternative to geo-statistical techniques while considerably reducing the processing time required for development and application. In this paper the ANNs was applied to the Choghart iron ore deposit in Yazd province of Iran. Initially, an optimum Multi Layer Perceptron (MLP) was constructed to estimate the Fe grade within orebody using the whole ore data of the deposit. Sensitivity analysis was applied for a number of hidden layers and neurons, different types of activation functions and learning rules. Optimal architectures for iron grade estimation were 3-20-10-1. In order to improve the network performance, the deposit was divided into four homogenous zones. Subsequently, all sensitivity analyses were carried out on each zone.  Finally, a different optimum network was trained and Fe was estimated separately for each zone. Comparison of correlation coefficient (R) and least mean squared error (MSE) showed that the ANNs performed on four homogenous zones were far better than the nets applied to the overall ore body. Therefore, these optimized neural networks were used to estimate the distribution of iron grades and the iron resource in Choghart deposit. As a result of applying ANNs, the tonnage of ore for Choghart deposit is approximately estimated at 135.8 million tones with average grade of Fe at 56.14 percent. Results of reserve estimation using ANNs showed a good agreement with the geo-statistical methods applied to this ore body in another work.


The tangent linear (TL) models and adjoint (AD) models have brought great difficulties for the development of variational data assimilation system. It might be impossible to develop them perfectly without great efforts, either by hand, or by automatic differentiation tools. In order to break these limitations, a new data assimilation system, dual-number data assimilation system (DNDAS), is designed based on the dual-number automatic differentiation principles. We investigate the performance of DNDAS with two different optimization schemes and subsequently give a discussion on whether DNDAS is appropriate for high-dimensional forecast models. The new data assimilation system can avoid the complicated reverse integration of the adjoint model, and it only needs the forward integration in the dual-number space to obtain the cost function and its gradient vector concurrently. To verify the correctness and effectiveness of DNDAS, we implemented DNDAS on a simple ordinary differential model and the Lorenz-63 model with different optimization methods. We then concentrate on the adaptability of DNDAS to the Lorenz-96 model with high-dimensional state variables. The results indicate that whether the system is simple or nonlinear, DNDAS can accurately reconstruct the initial condition for the forecast model and has a strong anti-noise characteristic. Given adequate computing resource, the quasi-Newton optimization method performs better than the conjugate gradient method in DNDAS.


BACKGROUND
Treatment outcomes for antiretroviral therapy (ART) patients may vary by gender, but estimates from current evidence may be confounded by disease stage and adherence. We investigated the gender differences in treatment response among HIV-positive patients virally suppressed within 6 months of treatment initiation.

METHODS
We analyzed data from 7,354 patients initiating ART between April 2004 and April 2010 at Themba Lethu Clinic, a large urban public sector treatment facility in South Africa. We estimated the relations among gender, mortality, and mean CD4 response in HIV-infected adults virally suppressed within 6 months of treatment initiation and used inverse probability of treatment weights to correct estimates for loss to follow-up.

RESULTS
Male patients had a 20% greater risk of death at both 24 months and 36 months of follow-up compared to females. Older patients and those with a low hemoglobin level or low body mass index (BMI) were at increased risk of mortality throughout follow-up. Men gained fewer CD4 cells after treatment initiation than did women. The mean differences in CD4 count gains made by women and men between baseline and 12, 24, and 36 months were 28.2 cells/mm(3) (95% confidence interval [CI] 22.2-34.3), 60.8 cells/mm(3) (95% CI 71.1-50.5 cells/mm(3)), and 83.0 cells/mm(3) (95% CI 97.1-68.8 cells/mm(3)), respectively. Additionally, patients with a current detectable viral load (>400 copies/mL) and older patients had a lower mean CD4 increase at the same time points.

CONCLUSIONS
In this initially virally suppressed population, women showed consistently better immune response to treatment than did men. Promoting earlier uptake of HIV treatment among men may improve their immunologic outcomes.


Eating at an Ethiopian restaurant might give one an appreciation for the process of phagocytosis, a widespread method immune cells use to ingest particles. To dine using injera, the spongy Ethiopian flatbread, you form a pocket of bread around the food that you pinch off and, with practice, stuff cleanly into your mouth. Similarly, when cells ingest small particles, viruses, or other smaller cells by phagocytosis, they extend protrusions called pseudopods around their target. The pseudopods then seal around the object, and a bit of the cell membrane that encases the object buds off and travels inside the cell.

Figuring out which molecules are involved in coordinating the fast-moving, dynamic process of phagocytosis has been difficult. But using a sensitive, high-resolution technique called fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), a new study reveals the patterns of protein activities that help regulate phagocytosis. Peter Beemiller, Adam Hoppe, and Joel Swanson show that two stages of phagocytosis—the extension of pseudopods and the closure around an object—each require activation of specific proteins, members of the ADP ribosylation factor (ARF) family, which are major regulators of the budding of vesicles, or membrane-bound sacs, from internal organelles. The researchers also found that an enzyme called phosphatidylinositol-3′-kinase (PI-3K) plays a key role in organizing these two stages of phagocytosis.

Key to the discovery was a technique called FRET. Though the technique was first described nearly 50 years ago, it has recently been greatly refined and has experienced a renaissance. The technique relies on the ability of one fluorescent molecule to excite another fluorescent molecule, which emits light when the two molecules are very close to each other. Thus, when exciting the first fluorescent molecule lights up the second one, it signals that the two fluorescent molecules are within tens of angstroms—practically on top of each other.

To use FRET for picking apart the pathways involved in phagocytosis, the researchers made mouse phagocytes that expressed engineered proteins—versions of ADP ribosylation factors (ARFs) 1 and 6 had fluorescent protein attached, and fluorescent marker proteins that would bind to either ARF1 or ARF6, when they had been activated inside the cell. Binding of the activated fluorescent ARFs to the fluorescent markers could be detected via FRET. Thus, the researchers could see when and where ARF1 or ARF6 were active in the cell during phagocytosis.

The researchers found that pseudopods extending around a particle activated ARF6 at their tips. Then as the cell more fully enveloped a particle, ARF6 turned off, and activated ARF1 appeared throughout the pseudopod until it closed around the particle. The discovery of a role for ARF1 was unexpected, since previous studies suggested this protein is not involved in phagocytosis. Also, the researchers found that inhibiting PI-3K prevented cells from switching between these two phases of phagocytosis, and caused them to stop halfway without having closed around the particles.

It's still not entirely clear what role each of the ARFs plays. ARF6 may regulate how the cell supplies more membranes to the area of phagocytosis, so that the cell can expand its surface area there and engulf particles. ARF1, on the other hand, plays a key role in protein trafficking, and so may regulate which proteins migrate to the site of phagocytosis. But finding that phagocytosis has distinct phases, regulated by phospholipids in the membrane, is an important step toward sorting out how thousands of receptors can be coordinated in time and space to make a phagosome.


Plasmids harboring multiple antimicrobial-resistance determinants (R plasmids) were transferred in simulated natural microenvironments from various bacterial pathogens of human, animal, or fish origin to susceptible strains isolated from a different ecological niche. R plasmids in a strain of the human pathogen Vibrio cholerae O1 E1 Tor and a bovine Escherichia coli strain were conjugated to a susceptible strain of the fish pathogenic bacterium Aeromonas salmonicida subsp. salmonicida in marine water. Conjugations of R plasmids between a resistant bovine pathogenic E. coli strain and a susceptible E. coli strain of human origin were performed on a hand towel contaminated with milk from a cow with mastitis. A similar conjugation event between a resistant porcine pathogenic E. coli strain of human origin was studied in minced meat on a cutting board. Conjugation of R plasmids between a resistant strain of the fish pathogenic bacterium A. salmonicida subsp. salmonicida and a susceptible E. coli strain of human origin was performed in raw salmon on a cutting board. R plasmids in a strain of A. salmonicida subsp. salmonicida and a human pathogenic E. coli strain were conjugated to a susceptible porcine E. coli strain in porcine feces. Transfer of the different R plasmids was confirmed by plasmid profile analyses and determination of the resistance pattern of the transconjugants. The different R plasmids were transferred equally well under simulated natural conditions and under controlled laboratory conditions, with median conjugation frequencies ranging from 3 x 10(-6) to 8 x 10(-3). The present study demonstrates that conjugation and transfer of R plasmids is a phenomenon that belongs to the environment and can occur between bacterial strains of human, animal, and fish origins that are unrelated either evolutionarily or ecologically even in the absence of antibiotics. Consequently, the contamination of the environment with bacterial pathogens resistant to antimicrobial agents is a real threat not only as a source of disease but also as a source from which R plasmids can easily spread to other pathogens of diverse origins.


The kaon electroproduction reaction 1H(e,e'K+)Lambda was studied as a function of the virtual-photon four-momentum, Q2, total energy, W, and momentum transfer, t, for different values of the virtual- photon polarization parameter. Data were taken at electron beam energies ranging from 3.40 to 5.75 GeV. The center of mass cross section was determined for 21 kinematics corresponding to Q2 of 1.90 and 2.35 GeV2 and the longitudinal, sigmaL, and transverse, sigmaT , cross sections were separated using the Rosenbluth technique at fixed W and t. The separated cross sections reveal a flat energy dependence at forward kaon angles not satisfactorily described by existing electroproduction models. Influence of the kaon pole on the cross sections was investigated by adopting an off-shell form factor in the Regge model which better describes the observed energy dependence of sigmaT and sigmaL.


This paper assessed the results of five genre writing task-based practice in the second-year Diploma 3 IT students' skills for writing an IELTS writing test-like essay. The problem of the study was to explore how the five genre writing practice impacted the students' ability to discuss their opinion academically. The particular objective of this study was to inquire if the task-based learning enabled the students to ponder ideas and express opinions into well-defined, coherent and written explanations in compliance with good IELTS essay standard. The study was conducted in a quantitative method in which the students' grades of a class test given after completing the tasks were analyzed based on the IELTS Task 2 Writing Band Descriptors and modified IELTS Reading Task Band Score Converter. The results showed the task-based learning method instructing the students to yield five basic essay genres from Narrative to Argumentative needed to be only focused on Argumentative genre writing task practice if the learning objective was to equip the students to produce an IELTS typical essay in good quality, for the students' essay writing grades revealed an unsatisfactory prediction band score, only 4.5 from a scale of 0 to 9. In particular, they should take more intensive drills in organizing unbiased but persuasive explanations, providing supporting examples for their personal views, picking proper transition markers for the text coherence and being aware of fragment and run-on sentences, Subject and Verb disagreement, Use of Tenses and Redundancy.


This contribution provides an overview of the main works on the syntactic structure of Finnish and Estonian, sketching the main achievements of the research on these languages, characterizing the main topics of the research, and guiding the readers to further topics, sources and authors. The history of generative linguistics and the development of ideas has followed quite different paths in Estonia and Finland, largely due to the divergent political situation. This is sketched in the paper.


On October 27, 1941 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave his Navy Day Address across public radio. In his speech, President Roosevelt informed United States citizens that Hitler had attacked areas near the Americas and that American tanks had been destroyed. President Roosevelt encouraged American citizens to continue to fight Hitlerism by doing their part and help America provide weapons to those whose military was actually fighting. He explained that Hitler's plan did not meet the American ideals and that Americans should do their part to defend their great country.November 5, 1941, the headline "Women Hurl Eggs and Tomatoes at Lord Halifax on Detroit Tour" appeared in the New York Times. The women, the article explained, were protesting America's entrance into the war (WWII). The article further stated that the British ambassador did not hurry into the building to escape the women's protest.November 6, 1941, an editorial in The Jackson County Journal, a small county newspaper printed in Jackson County, North Carolina, appeared, addressing the Navy Day speech and the patriotism of the citizens of Jackson County. It was written by Dan Tompkins, a WWI veteran and editor of The Jackson County Journal for many years.Each of these events leads up to letters sent from a business counselor, auditor, and tax consultant in Atlanta, Georgia, Mr. Charles James Metz on November 10, 1941. In each of these letters Charles Metz encloses a copy of Mr. Dan Tompkins' editorial, assuring the recipients of the patriotism and the ideals of the American people.


A B S TRAC T This research explained about the effect of traffic Node-B capacity ( we can mention BTS on GSM network) toward Soft Handover Overhead setting on 3G network that implementation in PT.Telkomsel Pontianak. Which Note-B TB. Arang Limbung 2 as sample has experienced full capacity traffic and coused many discountinuance connection on moved situation, we can see on software NetAct value Soft Handover 99%.  The Soft  Handover  Overhead method   apparoutly   can   gave   change   toward   Soft Handover  value is by changed parameter CPICH offset from 0 into -20. The incroased kinds of network draw the total  uer.  Many  of  user  can  coused  slop  the  network quality becouse raising of interference network or traffic voice  and  the  high  data.  Node-B  is  sets  of equipment radiator and accept that gave radio service to UE, Node-B also has maximum capacity limited. When the capacity full  then coused  drop call  and  ms try attempt  rejected because channel capacity Node-B total decreased and not optimum so can coused the process Soft Handover filled. The  monitor  of Node-B  data  who hs disturbance  used netAct aplication and look the slop value of Note-B Soft Handover  under 99%, it means so many discounnected call  on  moved  situation.  Node-B  TB.  Arang  Limbung 2has lower value Soft Handover  until <98,44% from 3 mei 2016 – 9 mei 2016. The value CPICH offset used is - 20. Which the process of Soft Handover  Overhead is to increase the value CPICH offset lower than 0. The value of Soft Handover success rate total everyday is 98,44% before used Soft Handover Overhead method the total everydat increased until 99,62% Soft Handover   success rate is to precentation the total success handover alloted the total handover occur, the result of this research show that the mechanism Soft Handover good after done Soft Handover Overhead method. K e yword   :   NetAct,   CPICH   offset,   Soft   Handover O verhead


The author seeks to contribute to the field of frontier studies with bioarchaeological data, in the hopes of understanding how living in relative proximity, but under different sociopolitical organizations, may affect health. The goal of this research is to examine differences in overall health between two groups that have been characterized in the literature as "Romans" and "barbarians." The research uses skeletal remains to address how the daily life of people under Roman-Byzantine control compared to that of their neighbors, the "barbarians" to the north. Comparing two contemporaneous populations from the territory of modern Romania—and dating from the third to the sixth centuries CE—the study examines health status and traumatic injuries. One collection comes from the territory under Roman-Byzantine control, the site of Ibida (Slava Rusă) from the Roman province of Scythia Minor, and the other originates from the Târgşor site, located to the north of the Danube frontier, in what was considered the "barbaricum." Separated by a definite frontier, the Danube River, meant to (at least ideologically) segregate them to their divided worlds, these populations might have been more interconnected than the carefully promulgated imperial doctrine would have us believe.


Reconstruction of inhomogeneous dielectric objects from microwave scattering is a nonlinear and ill-posed inverse problem. In this communication, we develop a new class of weakly convex discontinuity adaptive (WCDA) models as a regularization for quantitative microwave tomography. We show that this class includes the Huber regularizer and we show how to combine these methods with electromagnetic solvers operating on the complex permittivity profile. 2D reconstructions of objects from the Institute Fresnel database and experimental data at a single frequency demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed regularization even when employing far less transmitters and receivers than available in the database.


Photographs of self-injury are a powerful tool for communicating pain (in a broadsense of the word, including 'inner', non-physical pain caused by inner turmoil or anxiety). They appear quite frequently on the internet and are often perceived as dangerously seductive and triggering, to the extent that websites can be forced to withdraw this kind of material. Publishing photos of self-injury can also lead toaccusations of attention- seeking, or competing to be the worst self-injurer. Anoften repeated feature of an inauthentic self-injurer is that s/he publishes photos of self-inflicted wounds and scars. As part of an ongoing study on visual representations of self-injury on the internet, members of a self-injury communitywere asked to reflect on the production, publication and consumption of photos of self-injury. Over fifty informants, both active and former self-injurers, participated in the survey. Prejudices about exposure to self-injury photos leading to anexacerbation of self-injury were not supported by the study. Positive effects, like alleviation, or being warned against the consequences of self-injury, were frequent,and the soothing effect of the photos was often emphasised. The answers from the survey create a complex picture, showing how self-injury photographs are part of a community culture; used to control the self-injurious behaviour, and as acommunicative device. The self-injury culture is reliant on expressions of empathy and solidarity. Pain is the basis of its communication, and, with the help of photographs, pain can be remembered, imagined and transferred. The self-injurycommunity revolves around a notion of shared experience of pain; photographs of self-injury are one of the resources for sharing and for building its communal ground.


Translocation experiments can be used to study the factors limiting species' distributions and to infer potential drivers of successful colonisation during range shifts. To study the expansion dynamics of the butterfly Pyrgus armoricanus in southern Sweden and to find out whether its distribution was limited by climate, translocation experiments were carried out within and 50–60 km beyond its natural range margin. Populations were monitored for 8 years following the translocation. Although most translocation attempts failed, P. armoricanus was able to survive in two sites north of its current range limit. One of them eventually led to expansion and establishment of a viable metapopulation. Translocation success appeared to be independent of latitude, suggesting that climate is not the main factor determining the current northern distribution limits of this butterfly. Population growth and secondary spread in the expanding population were positively related to patch area and connectivity, while local habitat quality seemed to be less important. The successful translocation and the importance of a well‐connected patch network suggest that the current distribution of P. armoricanus is limited by its low dispersal ability combined with the fragmentation of its habitat, making it unlikely to track its changing climatic niche. Assisted migration could be an effective tool for such species, but long‐term evidence for its effectiveness is not yet available.


We present an analysis of observations made with the Arcminute Microkelvin Imager (AMI) and the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) of six galaxy clusters in a redshift range of 0.16–0.41. The cluster gas is modelled using the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich (SZ) data provided by AMI, while the total mass is modelled using the lensing data from the CFHT. In this paper, we (i) find very good agreement between SZ measurements (assuming large-scale virialization and a gas-fraction prior) and lensing measurements of the total cluster masses out to r200; (ii) perform the first multiple-component weak-lensing analysis of A115; (iii) confirm the unusual separation between the gas and mass components in A1914 and (iv) jointly analyse the SZ and lensing data for the relaxed cluster A611, confirming our use of a simulation-derived mass–temperature relation for parametrizing measurements of the SZ effect.


• Immunosuppressive therapy was discontinued in six patients for an average of 27 months. In these six patients, only two rejections have occurred. A survey of other transplant centers showed that in such patients rejection was often delayed weeks or months after therapy was stopped. Once immunosuppressive therapy has been stopped, for whatever reason, and rejection has not occurred, consideration should be given to not resuming therapy unless signs of rejection appear. ( Arch Surg 110:1450-1451, 1975)


Fisheries have become increasingly important to manage and conserve, and this is particularly challenging for data-poor species. Elasmobranchs are commonly considered data-poor or data-limited species. Their life history characteristics make their populations susceptible to depletion from fishing pressures and habitat degradation. Thus, it is important to understand the movement patterns and habitat use of the targeted species as well as the models used in the stock assessment for the species. This thesis involves developing techniques and information for data-poor species, such as elasmobranchs. The objectives of this research were to 1) identify the wintering grounds for the cownose rays (Rhinoptera bonasus) from Chesapeake Bay, 2) determine summer and fall movement patterns for this species, and 3) understand how changes in the data input (i.e., catch and effort) affect the parameter estimates from a simple surplus production model. Cownose rays have received negative attention in Chesapeake Bay for presumably heavy predation on commercial shellfish. Although the population size is unknown, there are concerns about the increase in abundance of this species, resulting in the need for management to control its population size. However, there are many questions regarding the movement patterns and habitat use for cownose rays, particularly for males. A total of 16 cownose rays in Chesapeake Bay were tagged with pop-up satellite archival tags (PSATs) to determine their wintering grounds and summer and fall movement patterns. Six tags (3 on females and 3 on males) were released on the programmed date and contained data on temperature, pressure (for depths) and light-level (for geolocations). The end locations from the satellite tags indicated that both sexes migrated to the coastal waters of central Florida for the winter. Females were exited Chesapeake Bay at the end of September and early October and migrated south to Florida. Males left the bay at the end of July and traveled northward to a second feeding ground in the coastal waters of southern New England. At the end of summer and early fall, the males made the southerly migration down the coast to Florida. There were no diel differences detected; however, male rays occupied a wider depth and temperature range compared to females. Data-poor stocks are often regulated based on surplus production models when only catch and effort data are available. However, reported catch and effort rarely equal the true values. Reported data may not include bycatch, illegal fishing or local consumption, resulting in higher true catch and effort values than that reported. I used ASPIC (A Surplus Production Model Incorporating Covariates) software to examine the viii effects of underestimated catch and effort on parameter and ratio estimates (e.g., MSY, F/Fmsy and B/Bmsy) in a production model. Using three example fisheries, I determined that a fishery with constant underestimation of catch and effort over time can be managed based on the parameter estimates from the production model. The parameter estimates either yielded no errors or were underestimated by the same percentage as the underreported data; however, the ratios of parameter estimates were free of error due to cancellation of errors. Trends in underestimation of catch and effort (e.g., improved reporting rates or increased illegal fishing) caused the errors in the estimates from the production model to be highly variable and scenario-dependent. Consequently, if underreporting of catch and effort is suspected, I would recommend conducting additional simulations specific to the fishery.


The aim of the study is to investigate the role of organizational justice to affective commitment to change. The study was conducted based on data collected from 42 employees working in head office of multifinancial service company. It is made up of 16 males and 26 females' employees. Affective commitment to change was measured using Herscovitch and Meyer's Affective Commitment to Change Scale (6 items; α= .828). While organizational justice was measured using Colquitt's Organizational Justice Scale (20 items; α=.905). The hypotheses were tested using multiple regressions. The result showed R 2 of .821, meaning that 82% of affective commitment to change can be explained by organizational justice. Among four dimensions of organizational justice, procedural justice has the most influence and significant role on affective commitment to change (β= .445, p <.001), followed by distributive justice (β = .336, p <.001). The findings of the study demonstrated that organizational justice has positive significant impact on affective commitment to change, particularly distributive and procedural justice. Based on this study, in order to develop affective commitment to change in these multifinance company employees, to design intervention to increase organizational justice is neccessary.


Background: A nailfold capillaroscopy procedure is a non-invasive, low-cost, and well-established examination that can be used to diagnose several rheumatic autoimmune diseases and support the necessary follow-up of patients. There are two main elements to nailfold capillaroscopy: image acquisition and image interpretation. Both of these can present challenges: we need to ensure that the best possible images are captured, and we need to define the enlarged capillaries, capillary loss and pericapillary hemorrhages objectively. We introduce Capillary.io, an automatic image reading system able to recognize capillaries in images obtained with any microscope, generate automatic measurements of each capillary and take advantage of this information to report capillary morphology. Together it allows a comprehensive analysis that is capable of producing detailed reports for each patient. Objectives: The primary outcome was general sensitivity and specificity, using images assessed by expert capillaroscopists as the gold standard. Methods: 6500 images previously analyzed by capillaroscopists from GREC were compared with Capillary.io. Capillary morphology (enlarged capillaries, tortuosities, ramifications, megacapillaries, hemorrhages) of each of the capillaries contained in each of the images was analyzed manually by at least one expert capillaroscopist. Subsequently, the automatic image interpretation system was used to fully automatically analyze each of the capillaries contained in each image and the results obtained were compared. Results: Overall, a total of 78.347 capillaries were compared, of which 47.734 were normal capillaries, 21.991 enlarged capillaries, 2672 megacapillaries, 8512 tortuosities, 1322 ramifications and 5149 hemorrhages. Capillary.io was able to detect 38.101 normal capillaries, 19.126 enlarged capillaries, 2389 megacapillaries, 5698 tortuosities, 718 ramifications and 3706 hemorraghes. Capillary.io presented a sensitivity (S) of 79.82% and a specificity (E) of 82% in the recognition of normal capillaries. The automatized system was able to recognize enlarged capillaries with a sensitivity of 86.97% and a specificity of 81.38%. Megacapillaries were detected with 89.41% sensitivity and 78.75% specificity. Similarly, the system was able to detect tortuosities (S 66.94%; E 67.71%), ramifications (S 54.34%; E 58.61%) and hemorrhages (S 71.36; E 73.97%). Conclusion: Capillary.io is a simple, easy-learning web-based system to get interpretation of nailfold capillaroscopic images. It may be a very useful tool to standardize the interpretation of capillaroscopic pictures and could provide great research in that field. References: [1]Bernardino V, Rodrigues A, Llado A, Fernandes M, Panarra A. The Impact of Nailfold Capil- laroscopy in the Approach of Microcirculation. In: Vascular Biology - Selection of Mechanisms and Clinical Applications IntechOpen; 2020. [2]Boulon C, Devos S, Mangin M, Chevoir JDL, Senet P, Lazareth I, et al. Reproducibility of capillaro- scopic classifications of systemic sclerosis: results from the SCLEROCAP study. Rheumatology 2017 jul;56(10):1713–1720. [3]Capillary io, Capillaroscopy made quick, simple and objective; 2020. Available at https:// capillary.io. [4]Chen K, Wang J, Pang J, Cao Y, Xiong Y, Li X, et al. MMDetection: Open MMLab Detection Toolbox and Benchmark. arXiv preprint arXiv:190607155 2019;. [5]Cutolo M, Pizzorni C, Sulli A. Nailfold videocapillaroscopy assessment of microvascular damage in systemic sclerosis - Reply. The Journal of Rheumatology 2000 11;27:2722–2723. [6]Cutolo M, Trombetta AC, Melsens K, Pizzorni C, Sulli A, Ruaro B, et al. Automated assessment of absolute nailfold capillary number on videocapillaroscopic images: Proof of principle and validation in systemic sclerosis. Microcirculation 2018 May;25(4):e12447. Disclosure of Interests: Borja Gracia Tello Shareholder of: Co-founder and shareholder of Capillary.io., Eduardo Ramos Shareholder of: co-founder and shareholder of Capillary.io., Carmen Pilar Simeon-Aznar: None declared, Vicent Fonollosa Pla: None declared, Alfredo Guillen-Del-Castillo: None declared, Albert Selva-O'Callaghan: None declared, Luis Saez-Comet: None declared, Elena Martinez Robles: None declared, Juan Jose Rios: None declared, Gerard Espinosa: None declared, Jose Antonio Todoli Parra: None declared, Jose Luis Callejas-Rubio: None declared, Norberto Ortego: None declared, Begona Mari-Alfonso: None declared, Mayka Freire: None declared, Patricia Fanlo: None declared


Amidst the sights, sounds, and energy of a professional kitchen in full lunch service, chefs and assistants darted around among a unique collection of culinary students, gently directing them in the preparation of the perfect spaghetti bolognese. Supplied by Watts farm, delicious organic ingredients were being transformed into various versions of this simple dish, ranging from a nutritionally basic minced-meat classic, to a lentil nutritional powerhouse scoring high in fibre, low in saturated fat, and low on the glycaemic index.

This wa s no ordinary cookery class. On 24 February 2018, a landmark pilot course teaching doctors how to cook was hosted by Westminster Kingsway College, a UK centre for culinary excellence. This seminal culinary training programme was undertaken by 16 doctors under the guidance of a team of professional chefs, doctors, and nutritionists. Notable support in preparation for the course came from Professor David Foskett, MBE, an eminent educator and …


Bilingual or multilingual is the product of our global village. To excel in their fields people are learning different languages. Code-switching has been discussed by linguists with reference to success. Code-switching for persuasion is used everywhere in politics, education, business, etc. Luna and Peracchio (2005) researched in the field of advertisement, the impact of code-switching on persuasion, for bilingual consumers. They proved that due to the code-switching level of persuasion in the field of advertisement goes to the highest point. They used and extended the markedness model. This left the need for dealing with code-switching, in connection to persuasion from a different perspective. This research deals with codeswitching in relation to persuasion and the field of advertisement, from a totally different perspective, which is Neuro-Linguistic Programming. Neuro-Linguistic Programming was developed in the early 1970s by computer scientist Bandler (1970) and a linguist Grinder (1970). "NLP is a tool kit", Bandler (2010) which helps people in achieving their goals. The lens of NLP utilized in this research includes Representational systems, Anchoring, Rapport, Hypnotic language patterns or hypnotic effects, etc. Method of this research is observation and for the sake of authenticity close and open-ended questionnaires were utilized. 60 to 70 Pakistani ads from newspapers, billboards, pamphlets, etc. and T-V commercials were observed from the lens of NLP in connection to code-switching for persuasion. For Pakistan the field NLP is new but its worldwide usage and popularity shows that it iseffective. For an advertising man, NLP is a magical tool kit which is proved by this research. This research is not only helpful for the people of marketing and advertisement. It is helpful for those who want to speak effectively and lead in their social circles.


The lipocalins, a diverse family of small extracellular ligand proteins, display a remarkable range of different molecular properties. While their binding of small hydrophobic molecules, and to a lesser extent their binding to cell surface receptors, is well known, it is shown here that formation of macromolecular complexes is also a common feature of this family. Analysis of known crystallographic structures reveals that the lipocalins process a conserved common structure: an antiparallel β‐barrel with a repeated +1 topology. Comparisons show that within this overall similarity the structure of individual proteins is specifically adapted to bind their particular ligands, forming a binding site from an internal cavity (within the barrel) and/or an external loop scaffold, which gives rise to different binding modes that reflects the need to accommodate ligands of different shape, size, and chemical structure. The architecture of the lipocalin fold suggests that the both the ends and sides of this barrel are topologically distinct, differences also apparent in analyses of structural and sequence variation within the family. These different can be linked to experimental evidence suggesting a possible functional dichotomy between the two ends of the lipocalin fold. The structurally invariant end of the molecule may be implicated in general binding small ligands and forming macromolecular complexes via an exposed binding surface.


1. Changes of structural proteins in experimental and human myocardial infarction were studied by the determination of myosin- and actomyosin-ATPase activities and gel electrophoretic analysis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). 2. In animal experiments using dogs, the relative amounts of myosin and alpha-actinin decreased at 24 to 48 hours after coronary ligation, became lowest at 72 hours, and remained at this level for 2 weeks and returned to almost normal value at 28 days. 3. Myosin- and actomyosin-ATPase activities decreased rapidly during 24 to 48 hours after ligation with temporary increase in their activities in the initial stage of ischemia and followed the similar time course as that of the amounts of myosin and alpha-actinin. 4. SDS gel electrophoretic analysis of structural proteins of infarcted tissues of the human hearts obtained from 5 cadavers showed also marked decrease of the contents of myosin and alpha-actinin with relative preservation of actin, tropomyosin and troponin-T.


Collecting data among participants belonging to a group, community or organization is a crucial step in social research. However, generally speaking, in the social sciences, the issue of access to the research field has not been widely or systematically studied and remains under-theorized. The goal of this study is to draw the participants' perspective on the question of accepting research into their classrooms and participating in it, an object that has usually been overlooked in studies on research field access. This article presents the results of a qualitative, exploratory study aimed at documenting teachers' representations relating to whether or not they wish to participate in research projects, when requested to do so by researchers. The analysis brought out a system comprising five categories of representations relating to participation or non-participation in an educational research project. These representations are related to 1) the teacher's daily tasks; 2) the teacher's professional development; 3) the teacher's professional identity and professional ideal; 4) the institutional and collegial context; and 5) the teacher's responsibility toward students. We discuss these categories and their implications for further research.


Styrenated oil, urethane oil, and oil modified alkyd resin were prepared by using castor oil in a different way. For this purpose, castor oil was initially subjected to an interesterification reaction with linseed oil, and the resulting intermediate was employed in the preparation of oilbased binders. Urethane oil and alkyd resin were obtained through the reactions of the interesterification product with toluene diisocyanate and phthalic anhydride, respectively. For the production of styrenated oil, thermally labile azo groups were inserted into the interesterification product and then this intermediate was reacted with styrene. Styrenated oil showed the best alkali resistance.


The iconic British style magazine "i-D" once again brings you a guide to the world's most important designers. From the biggest players in the international fashion industry including Karl Lagerfeld, John Galliano, and Marc Jacobs, to emerging names such as Kim Jones and Tess Giberson, to streetwear and sportswear brands: A Bathing Ape, Nike, Diesel and Silas, "Fashion Now II" is a comprehensive survey of today's best designers. Expanded from the previous edition, "Fashion Now II" is illustrated with the very best fashion photography and styling, extracted from shoots in the archives of the magazine that celebrates its 25th birthday this year. Also included are an introduction by "i-D" founder and editor-in-chief Terry Jones, and in-depth essays on the issues that are shaping fashion today: the fashion show system, the precarious position of the celebrity designer, and the rise of menswear. "Fashion Now II" is an encyclopedia of fashion personalities, a portfolio of amazing imagery, but most of all, a snapshot of the fast-changing contemporary fashion world, as seen through the lens of one of the best-loved magazines published today. Features: more than 160 designer listings from A-Z, including photos of recent work, detailed biographies, and fascinating 'QA essays on current issues in the fashion industry; detailed insider guide section lists where to stay, shop, and what to see in global fashion capitals such as New York, London, Milan, Paris, Sao Paolo, and Moscow.


There are signs of these times at non-profits, too: Clarkson University has established scholarships for freshmen entrepreneurs--free tuition, but Clarkson gets a percentage of any profits the start-up companies may later achieve. Washington State has created an Opportunity Scholarship Program, funded partly by the State and partly by corporate donors; Boeing and Microsoft kick-started it with $25million each. Since Reagan's time, federal support for funding of K-12 schools has been ritually linked to the premise that it is good for (a) individual economic success, (b) the competitiveness of U.S. corporations, and (c) an ever-rising GDP. [...] When I did the college tour with my granddaughter two years ago, only one of the expensive and hard-to-get-into schools on her itinerary included in its admissions office pitch any reason for going to X other than, basically, "you can get anything you want, here"--an upscale version of education as a commodity, omitting scary references to the tough world in which good jobs are hard to find, maybe impossible even with a degree from X. One college said it was for peace and justice.


The Chern-Simons magnetohydrodynamics (CSMHD) is introduced using a Maxwell-Chern-Simons (MCS) Lagrangian including an axion-like field $\Theta$. The MCS equation of motion derived from this Lagrangian consists of a modified current, including a chiral magnetic (CM) and an anomalous Hall (AH) current, in addition to the ordinary Ohm current of resistive magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). The former consists of an axial chemical potential, which is given in terms of the temporal comoving derivative of $\Theta$, and the latter arises from the spatial gradient of $\Theta$. As it turns out, the existence of the axial chemical potential is a nonequilibrium effect that plays no role in the linear stability analysis, whereas the AH current arises as in the first-order linear perturbation of the thermal equilibrium. We analyze the linear stability and causality of the CSMHD in a resistive and chiral medium. We show that the Alfven modes propagating sufficiently close to the direction of the magnetic field are unstable but causal. They are also accompanied by a genuine nonhydro mode. A stable mode in a particular direction can correspond to an unstable mode propagating in the exact opposite direction. The AH instability is a manifestation of a breakdown of the parity. A numerical analysis of the phase velocity confirms these results.


Indentured women in Fiji collectively challenged their exploitation in the sugar-cane plantations from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. The primary forum used to articulate their grievances and oppose their maltreatment was the Indian Women's Committee. The activism of this Committee was particularly intense from 1913 to 1920 when its platform intersected with international campaigns in India to abolish the indenture system. During this period, parallel resistances were mounted by the Australasian Committee of Inquiry into the Social and Moral Conditions of Indentured Women in Fiji. This Committee, comprising Australian, New Zealand and Indian women, adopted transnational principles to advance the social and moral position of indentured women in Fiji. While the Committee may be critiqued for furthering patriarchal constructions of morality and femininity that converged with discourses of colonialism, imperialism and Indian nationalism, this article will demonstrate that it simultaneously played a critical role in improving the quality of life for indentured women in Fiji, particularly in the area of women's health.


The presence of high levels of renewable energy resources (RES) and especially wind power production poses technical and economic challenges to system operators, which under this fact have to procure more ancillary services (AS) through various balancing mechanisms, in order to maintain the generation-consumption balance and to guarantee the security of the grid. Traditionally, these critical services had been procured only from the generation side, yet the current perception has begun to recognize the demand side as an important asset that can improve the reliability of a power system, offering notable advantages. In this study, a two-stage stochastic programming model, representing the day-ahead market clearing procedure on an hourly basis and the actual minute-to-minute operation of the power system, is developed comprising different services that specifically address various disturbance sources of the normal operation of a power system, namely intra-hour load variation, intra-hour wind variation, as well as generating unit and transmission line outages.


Recent plant genomic studies provide fine-grained details on the evolutionary consequences of adaptive introgression during crop domestication. Modern genomic approaches and analytical methods now make it possible to better separate the introgression signal from the demographic signal thus providing a more comprehensive and complex picture of the role of introgression in local adaptation. Adaptive introgression has been fundamental for crop expansion and has involved complex patterns of gene flow. In addition to providing new and more favourable alleles of large effect, introgression during the early stages of domestication also increased allelic diversity at adaptive loci. Previous studies have largely underestimated the effect of such increased diversity following introgression. Recent genomic studies in wheat, potato, maize, grapevine and ryegrass show that introgression of multiple genes, of as yet unknown effect, increased the effectiveness of purifying selection and promoted disruptive or fluctuating selection in early cultivars and landraces. Historical selection processes associated with introgression from crop wild relatives provide an instructive analogue for adaptation to current climate change and offer new avenues for crop breeding research that are expected to be instrumental for strengthening food security in the coming years.


The cupuassu (Theobroma grandiflorum (Willd. Ex Spreng.) K. Schum.) is a native fruit tree which has, in the past years, acquired great social and economic importance for the regional farmers. The nutrient-rich and often wasted cupuassu tree fruit shell residues can contribute to the improvement of the low fertility soil of Amazonia. A trial was carried out on a small holder's cupuassu plantation in Central Amazonia to ascertain the effect of organic fertilization on the recovery of soil fertility and plant nutrition by using material from cupuassu shell residues and Inga edulis pruning (branches and leaves). The fertilization with cupuassu rinds + Inga prunings improved soil fertility, mainly by the increase of K and Ca in the soil, but only with liming, which appears to favor the mineralization of these nutrients. At the 0–10 cm depth, the Ca level increased about 50% compared to the control and the K level increased 75% compared to the cupuassu shell treatments. The significant increase of about 30% in N absorption by trees in the plots without liming shows that the application of green manure can increase the mineralization of N in Oxisols. These results show that the organic residue sources used can result in a nutrient-bearing organic fertilizer and become a low-cost alternative for recycling cupuassu processing residues.


The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted global supply chains, leading to shipment delays and soaring shipping costs. We study the impact of shocks to global shipping costs—measured by the Baltic Dry Index (BDI)—on domestic prices for a large panel of countries during the period 1992-2021. We find that spikes in the BDI are followed by sizable and statistically significant increases in import prices, PPI, headline, and core inflation, as well as inflation expectations. The impact is similar in magnitude but more persistent than for shocks to global oil and food prices. The effects are more muted in countries where imports make up a smaller share of domestic consumption, and those with inflation targeting regimes and better anchored inflation expectations. The results are robust to several checks, including an instrumental variables approach in which we instrument changes in shipping costs with an indicator of closures of the Suez Canal. JEL Classification Numbers: E31, E37, Q43.


This experiment evaluated humoral responses in beef calves vaccinated against parainfluenza-3 virus (PI3), bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV), and bovine herpesvirus-1 (BHV-1) using via serum neutralization (SN) tests or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). Blood samples were collected from 50 overtly healthy Angus-influenced steers (183 ± 3 kg of body weight, 212 ± 2 d of age) on d 0, 21, 35, and 49 of the experiment. Steers were vaccinated against respiratory viruses on d 0 and 21. Blood was processed for serum collection and frozen in duplicates. One of the duplicates was analyzed for antibodies against BRSV, PI3, and BHV-1 using commercially available ELISA (IDEXX Switzerland AG, Liebefeld-Bern, Switerland), and results reported as sample:positive control (S/P, %) ratio. The other duplicate was analyzed for antibodies against the same vaccine antigens via SN. This method report results as titers, the greatest dilution that provides complete protection of the cells, which were transformed with base 2 log for statistical analyses. Samples were classified as positive for presence of antibodies by SN if log-transformed titer ≥ 2 for all viruses, and by ELISA if S/P ratio ≥ 50% for BHV-1 or ≥ 20% for PI3 and BRSV. Day effects were detected (P < 0.01) for SN and ELISA across all vaccine antigens, as antibody levels increased after vaccine administration. Linear fits were detected (P < 0.01) across all vaccine antigens when regressing the SN and ELISA results; as SN titer increased the ELISA S/P ratio linearly increased (P < 0.01). Kendall (τ) and Spearman's rank (ρ) correlations were also detected (P < 0.01) between SN and ELISA results across all vaccine antigens. The SN and ELISA were very strongly correlated (ρ ≥ 0.83) for BHV-1 and PI3, and strongly correlated (ρ = 0.66) for BRSV. Cohen's kappa coefficient for diagnosis agreement between methods were strong for BHV-1 and PI3 (κ ≥ 0.88), but weak (κ = 0.47) for BRSV. The sensitivity of the ELISA in yielding true positive results approached 100% across all antigens. The specificity of the ELISA in yielding negative results were satisfactory for BHV-1 and PI3 assays (84.0 and 88.5%, respectively) but not for BRSV (34.4%). Despite limitations in detecting true BRSV negatives, results from this experiment indicate that the commercial ELISAs tested herein can be used as surrogate for SN tests in quantifying humoral responses to vaccination against BHV-1, PI3, and BRSV in beef cattle.


HOW TO MAKE A WEBSITE OR BLOG: with WordPress, WITHOUT Coding, on your own domain, all in under 2 hours!In association with makemoneyfromhomelionsclub.comNO PRIOR EXPERIENCE REQUIRED. ALL INSTRUCTIONS ARE FULLY DETAILED AND STEP-BY-STEP SOANYONECAN FOLLOW THEM EASILY.Learn how to make a professional website or blog on your own domain in less than a couple of hours, and learn how to do it all using the Internet's most popular Content Management System: WordPress.No coding knowledge is required to use WordPress...if you can use Microsoft Word, you can make a professional website with WordPress (WordPress is software that is completely free).It is all taught in step-by-step lessons in this book (with links to supporting video lessons for extra clarity -the video lessons show you the entire completion of mikeomarwebsites.com from beginning to end).With the lessons taught in my book, you will be able to create any type of website that you want with any kind of look that you want, from personal blogs to professional business websites to e-commerce websites.Also, included as a bonus chapter, an introduction to how to build passive income websites using WordPress, and how making money onlineactuallyworks!Here are the topics covered in my book:TECHNICAL / SETTING UP:The SMARTEST and CHEAPEST way to buy a domain.The SMARTEST and CHEAPEST way to buy a hosting package.Linking your domain to your hosting account and installing WordPress.BASICS: An introduction to WordPress and best Search Engine Optimization (SEO) settings for your website.How to add pages for regular websites.How to add posts for blogs.How to add pictures and links.How to set up a sidebar using widgets.How to change the look of your website with different themes.How to add a contact form, plugins, and social media buttons.ADVANCED:How to install Google Analytics for tracking.How to add "buy now" PayPal buttons.How to add an interactive "Google Maps" map to your website.How to set up a mailing list / newsletter (and best practices for doing so).How to protect your website from hackers, malware, and other viruses.Resources for e-commerce websites, doing keyword research, doing link building and SEO, affiliate marketing, membership websites, outsourcing, video recording, and more!AN INTRODUCTION TO MAKING MONEY ONLINE:What are some of the most common methods for making money online?What is the simplest way to make passive income online?If I want to make money online, where do I start?The Structure of a $1,000 per Month Passive Income Website.This book will enable you to build a professional website on your own domain in less than a couple of hours AND teach you a skill set that will blow open your possibilities for entrepreneurship!


BACKGROUND
In December 2009, the Department of Health and Human Services guidelines for initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) changed to include patients with CD4 counts between 350 and 500 cells/µL. The aims of this study were to assess uptake of this recommendation in ART-naive youth with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and to describe the epidemiology of transmitted genotypic drug resistance mutations (DRMs) in this population.

METHODS
A multicenter, retrospective cohort study of ART initiation in ART-naive youth was performed. Eligible subjects were 13-25 years of age, were diagnosed with HIV within 1 year of presentation to care at the study sites, and presented to care from January 2007 to June 2011.

RESULTS
Of 685 potential subjects identified, 331 (49%) fulfilled inclusion criteria. Mean CD4 count at presentation to care was 452 cells/µL. Overall, 191 (58%) subjects started ART. The mean CD4 count at ART initiation was 261 cells/µL before and 363 cells/µL after the 2009 guideline change (P < .0001). Of 212 (64%) subjects with resistance testing available prior to ART initiation, 38 (18%) subjects had a major DRM and an increased proportion of resistance was seen in later study years.

CONCLUSIONS
Our study demonstrated an uptake in recently changed guideline recommendations to treat HIV-infected individuals at higher CD4 counts and reinforces the importance of performing resistance testing at entry into care, as 18% of our population had major DRMs prior to initiation of ART.


Abstract. Water vapor is the engine of the weather. Owing to its large latent energy, the phase changes of water vapor significantly affect the vertical stability, structure and energy balance of the atmosphere. Many techniques are used for measuring the water vapor in the atmosphere such as radiosondes, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and water vapor radiometer (WVR). In addition, the method that uses European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) data is an important method for studying the variations in precipitable water vapor (PWV). This paper used both GNSS PWV and ECMWF PWV to establish a city-level local PWV fusion model using a Gaussian Processes method. The results indicate that by integrating the precipitable water vapor obtained from GNSS and ECMWF data, the accuracy of fusion PWV is improved by 1.89 mm in active tropospheric conditions and 2.61 mm in quiescent tropospheric conditions compared with ECMWF-PWV, reaching 3.87 mm and 3.97 mm, respectively. Furthermore, the proposed fusion model is used to study the spatial and temporal distribution of PWV in Hong Kong. It is found that the accumulation of PWV corresponds to monsoon and rainfall events.


This dissertation proposes the Weaves runtime framework for the execution of large scale parallel programs over lightweight intra-process threads. The goal of the Weaves framework is to help process-based legacy parallel programs exploit the scalability of threads without any modifications. The framework separates global variables used by identical, but independent, threads of legacy parallel programs without resorting to thread-based re-programming. At the same time, it also facilitates low-overhead collaboration among threads of a legacy parallel program through multi-granular selective sharing of global variables.
Applications that follow the tenets of the Weaves framework can load multiple identical, but independent, copies of arbitrary object files within a single process. They can compose the runtime images of these object files in graph-like ways and run intra-process threads through them to realize various degrees of multi-granular selective sharing or separation of global variables among the threads. Using direct runtime control over the resolution of individual references to functions and variables, they can also manipulate program composition at fine granularities. Most importantly, the Weaves framework does not entail any modifications to either the source codes or the native codes of the object files. The framework is completely transparent.
Results from experiments with a real-world process-based parallel application depict that the framework can correctly execute a thousand parallel threads containing non-threadsafe global variables on a single machine—nearly twice as many as the traditional process-based approach can—without any code modifications. On increasing the number of machines, the application experiences super-linear speedup, which illustrates scalability. Results from another similar application, chosen from a different software area to emphasize the breadth of this research, show that the framework's facilities for low-overhead collaboration among parallel threads allows for significantly greater scales of achievable parallelism than technologies for inter-process collaboration allow. Ultimately, larger scales of parallelism enable more accurate software modeling of real-world parallel systems, such as computer networks and multi-physics natural phenomena.


The most common type of cancers in women is breast cancer. In United States, it is the second common cause of death in women. Metastatic cancer is the advanced stage of breast cancer, which is related to the distribution of cancerous cells from breast tissues to different areas of the body. Over the past numerous years, taxanes are bound to perform a huge role in the management and treatment of numerous malignancies. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Paclitaxel (PTX) and Docetaxel (DTX) clinically for the treatment of various types of cancers i.e. head/neck cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and prostate cancer. Due to poor solubility in the aqueous medium and for the targeted delivery of taxanes, different types of polymers are added along with taxanes to enhance its targeted actions and stability. The targeted delivery of nanoparticles requires specialized molecular diagnosed factors that can differentiate the tumor cells from regular cells and selectively aim the tumor cells. Recently liposomes, micelles, microemulsion, dendrimers, and solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) are used for targeted drug delivery of taxanes for the breast cancer treatment. PTX and DTX are the first generation taxanes that were revolutionized in the treatment of breast cancer and became famous drugs instantly. Currently, several taxanes named as larotaxel, milataxel, ortataxel, and tesetaxel are in clinical trials with combination therapy. The objective of our review is to discuss the targeted drug delivery approaches of taxane-based nanoparticles for the breast cancer treatment which is effective and has fewer side effects. Keywords: breast cancer, Docetaxel, nanoparticles, Paclitaxel, targeted delivery, taxanes Cite this Article Muhammad Farhan Hanif, Rabbiya Ahmad, Kanza Khalid, Maria Tabassum, Faizan Akram. Targeted Delivery of Nanoparticle-Based Taxanes for Breast Cancer Treatment: A Review. Trends in Drug Delivery. 2019; 6(3): 36–51p.


analyse the clinical outcome of the current pragmatic use of sacral nerve stimulation in the treatment of fecal incontinence caused by various pa-thophysiological conditions. Secondly it intends to explore the most recent use of SNS in patients presenting with sphincteric lesions. METHOD: The literature was searched using Medli-ne and Cochrane databases. The search was limited to publications in English. For the analysis, studies with less than 25 patients were excluded. For the presentation of SNS in patients with sphincter defects, all papers were included. RESULTS: Thirteen publications were included in the analysis of clinical outcome of SNS. Ten papers were identified reporting about the application of SNS in patients presenting with a morphological sphincter le-sion. The most common outcome measures of clinical efficacy were frequency of incontinence and Cleveland Clinic Incontinence Score. All studies demonstrated a highly improved function, in all outcome measures used. The improvement was significant. The results are reproducible. Also in patients with sphincteric gaps ranging form 17 to 180 degree SNS was clinical efficient. The size of the lesion had not impact on the outcome. CONCLUSION: Sacral spinal nerve stimulation has evolved to become a clinical efficient therapy applicable in a wide spectrum of causes leading to fecal incontinence. It is now considered to be an essential part of the current surgical treatment algorithm for fecal incontinence .


BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES
Chlamydia trachomatis is a well recognized sexually transmitted pathogen. Besides its potential to produce genital tract infection, C. trachomatis is increasingly being associated with long-term complications like infertility. The present study was undertaken to assess the role of C. trachomatis in female infertility as such data are lacking.

METHODS
Women of primary and secondary infertility (n=110) and 30 healthy term pregnant women as control group were enrolled in the study. Detailed clinical history of each patient was recorded. Hysterosalpingography was performed in all patients. Endocervical swabs were collected for culture on cycloheximide treated McCoy cell line and for antigen detection by ELISA.

RESULTS
C. trachomatis was detected in 31 (28.1%) of the 110 infertile women while one (3.3%) in control group was positive for C. trachomatis (P<0.01). Cell culture alone identified 25 (22.72%) patients suffering from chlamydial infection while C. trachomatis antigen was detected by ELISA in 18 (16.37%) patients. The one control case was positive for Chlamydia antigen by ELISA and not by cell culture. Chlamydial positivity was seen in 20 of the 74 (27%) women with primary infertility and in 11 of the 36 (30.6%) with secondary infertility. Of the 58 asymptomatic women, 21(36.2%) had chlamydia infection while among the 52 symptomatic cases 10 (19.2%) were infected; 38 per cent women with chlamydial infection also had tubal occlusion.

INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION
A significantly high rate of C. trachomatis infection was found in infertile women and more so in asymptomatic females and in secondary infertility cases. Lack of symptoms make clinical diagnosis of chlamydial infection difficult. Screening of infertile women for C. trachomatis is therefore recommended so far early therapeutic interventions.


The interfacial band alignment and chemical composition at the cadmium sulfide (CdS)/copper indium gallium diselenide (CuInx Ga1−x Se2 : CIGS) heterojunction was investigated by photoelectron spectroscopy. Over the two different interfaces made by either thermal deposition of CdS on a CIGS film or step-by-step etching of a chemical-bath deposited (CBD)-CdS/CIGS film by Ar+ ions, the valence band maximum and conduction band minimum were determined using ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy and inverse photoemission spectroscopy, respectively. Concurrently, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was used to trace chemical changes across the interface. Both interfaces showed a In-rich and Cu-deficient profile. The thermal deposition of CdS on CIGS induces Cd–Cu intermixing and nonstoichiometric CdS formation associated with a strong band bending and high electron injection barrier. However, the CBD-CdS layer shows a rather sharp interface and negligible electron injection barrier in the conduction band, which will show better solar cell characteristics.


Xavier-Silva B., Roza M.S., Hernandez J.M.F., Souza H.J.M de & AbiduFigueiredo M. [Lienal artery in Cat: applied study for anatomical research and surgical practice.] Artéria lienal em Gatos: estudo aplicado à pesquisa anatômica e a prática cirúrgica. Revista Brasileira de Medicina Veterinária 33(1):41-47, 2011. Área de Anatomia Animal, Departamento de Biologia Animal, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, BR 465 km 7, Seropédica, 23890-000, RJ, Brasil. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com The knowledge of anatomical variations is important for radiological and surgical procedures and has a theoretical and practical significance for experimental research and surgical practice in domestic animals. The aim of this study was to describe the main branches of lienal artery in domestic cats. The anatomical dissections were performed on 30 cadavers of adult cats, 15 male and 15 female, with a rostrum-sacral length of 47.9 cm and 46.6 cm respectively. Cats were positioned in right lateral decubit and a thoracic incision was made to remove the 6th and 7th ribs to cannulate the thoracic portion of aorta. After fixed with 10% formaldehyde solution and performing the injections with latex solution stained with pigment, the animals were dissected to identify the main branches of the lienal arteries. The average length and standard deviation of the lienal were calculated and compared in both sexes by unpaired t test. To verify if the frequency distributions observed for the 30 examined animals is in accordance with the literature, we performed the Quisquare (X2) test, with a 5% level of significance, to test if the nullity hypothesis is true for the number of lienal artery main ramifications. The relations between the lienal artery length with rostrum-sacral length were calculated by the correlation coefficient "r" varying between -1 and +1, that is, -1 ≤ r ≤+1. The mean and standard deviation of the lienal artery was 1.28 cm ± 0.43 in females and 0.98 cm ± 0.54 in males. In all (100%) dissected cats the lienal artery, originated directly from the celiac artery as an only one artery giving different numbers of branches to the spleen, stomach greater curvature and left pancreatic lobe. No correlation was observed between the lienal arteries with the rostrum-sacral length in both sexes. The average length and number of lienal artery branches is not gender dependent.


Removal of osseointegrated but otherwise failed (mechanical failure, mispositioning, aesthetics, etc.) dental implants is a traumatic process resulting in loss of healthy bone and complicating the treatment process. The traumatic effects of implant removal can be reduced by weakening the implant-bone attachment. Thermal necrosis-aided implant removal has been proposed as a minimally invasive method towards this end. In this method; an electrocautery tip is contacted to the implant to increase the temperature to 47oC and generate a limited and controlled thermal necrosis at the bone-implant interface. So far, no controlled studies have been performed to investigate the optimal clinical parameters for this method. In this study, we aimed to investigate, using Finite Element Analysis method, the optimal settings to achieve intentional thermal necrosis on three implant systems, at 5W and 40W device power and with different size tips. The temperature increase of the implants at 40W power was very sudden (<0.5 seconds) and as the bone reached 47oC, the implants were at unacceptable temperatures. At 5W power, temperature increase of the implants happened at manageable durations (< 1 second). Moreover, the temperature increase was even slower with larger implants and larger tips sizes. Therefore, low power settings must be used for thermal necrosis-aided implant removal. Also, the size of the implant and the tip must be taken into consideration in deciding the duration of contact with the electrocautery tip and the implant.


: Behcet's disease (BD) is a multisystemic disorder characterized by primary vasculitis of unknown etiology. We studied retinal vasculitis in 35 patients with ocular form of BD. All patients fulfilled the International Study Group criteria for BD. Mean age was 30.8 +/- 6.5 years (19-45 years, mean follow-up period 4.1 +/- 1.29 years (3-10 years. The disease occurred 3.3 times more often in men than in women (p = 0.0003). Retinal vasculitis was diagnosed in 26 (74.3%) of 35 patients with ocular form of BD. Retinal vascular changes characteristic of BD were bilateral in 96.1% cases and involved both arteries and veins. The earliest changes were detectable only by fluorescent angiography. Diffuse capillary leakage was observed in all cases during the active period of disease, involving the posterior pole. The disk and macular capillaries were involved most of all. Late staining of vasculature was observed in 68.6% patients. No ruptures of retinal vessels, retinal neovascularization, or areas of retinal nonperfusion were observed (except one case with occlusion of a branch of the central retinal vein), which are usually seen in other types of retinal vasculitis. Visual acuity was significantly decreased in patients with retinal occlusive vasculitis in comparison with patients without it (0.04 +/- 0.09 vs. 0.3 +/- 0.3, p = 0.029).


Objective To describe electronic diary study adherence, completion and sexual behaviour patterns among a high-risk sample clinically recruited for a prospective study of incident STI. Method Participants (N=243; 18–29 yrs; 61% female; 88% African American) completed 12-weeks of weekly STI testing and 3x/day electronic diaries assessing individual and partner-specific affect, daily activities, substance use and sexual and contraceptive behaviour. We analysed event- and subject-level completion rates, and subject-level STI and behaviour response effects among subjects who had completed the study and who had not been incarcerated during study. Results In total, 82.3% (200/243) of participants individually submitted at least 250 diaries (252 expected) during the study; as a group, participants submitted 89.7% (54 900/61 236) of the total number diaries expected. The average number of diaries weekly submitted varied between 17.03 and 19.45 (21 expected). Total and weekly submissions were similar by gender, age and race. The overall median survey completion time was 1.77 min (1.68 min: if no partners; 3.00 min: if any partners). Among those with only one partner, median completion time when no sex occurred was 2.47 min and was 3.87 min when any sex occurred. About 35% (85/243) of participants had an STI at some point in the study. Subjects reported the following sexual behaviours: vaginal sex (86.4%: 210/243), anal sex (29.6%: 72/243), giving oral sex (70.8%: 172/243) and receiving oral sex (82.7%: 201/243). Of those reporting vaginal sex, 60.4% (127/210) had only one partner and 23.3% (49/210) reported two partners. The median number of partner changes was one. Event level data suggest no response effects: sensitive behaviours, such as substance use or vaginal sex, exhibited similar stability in reports over time as compared to non-sexual activities such as eating or taking a walk. Conclusion Data suggest excellent study protocol adherence and stable behaviour reporting among a high-risk sample. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of prospective, incident STI data collection methods, particularly in clinically recruited samples, which are often assumed to be non-compliant or unreliable around such methods.


A methodology has been proposed for solving database problems requiring only approximate solutions. Data items are classified as sensitive and nonsensitive. An approximate transaction modifies only the nonsensitive data items which need not satisfy strong consistency constraints, and provides results only up to a degree of approximation. Further, it is shown that such an approach improves the performance in situations where transaction conflicts are frequent. Additionally, the methodology provides users as well as data managers with mechanisms to control the precision of the computation, preserving the qualitative characteristics of the data items.


Over the past decade, great concern has been expressed about the high suicide rates in China, especially among women and young women in particular. However, most of the information that has been presented has considered macro-level data and speculated on why women are so vulnerable to self-harm. This article presents the detailed story of one village woman who killed herself and suggests that motives and behavior are more complex than the cultural script and statistics suggest. Although depression is said to be commonly present in people who kill themselves in Western countries, this may not be the case in China.


The retrocerebral endocrine organs of the adult lemon-butterfly; Papilio demoleus have been described. The organs are subaortic lying closely behind the brain. While the nervi corporis cardiaci I (NCCI) originate from the protocerebrum of the brain, the NCCII seem to take their origin in the tritocerebrum in common with another nerve named earlier as the tegumentary nerve. The corpora cardiaca (CC) and corpora allata (CA) are closely approximated to each other obliterating the nervi corporis allati (NCA) which are conspicuous in the larva of the same species. An intercardiacal bridge (ICB) connects the CC of the two sides and acts as a possible centre of distribution for the neurosecretory material (NSM) to the gut. Histological evidence suggests that the NSM inside the CC remains intraaxonal without being primarily unloaded in the organs for storage. The intrinsic secretory cell of the CC are intimately associated with the neurosecretory fibres from the brain and bear fairly thick axons. No NSM could be detected in the CA of this insect.


The preparation process of alumina-spinel slurries by using micro-sized alumina-spinel mixtures as raw materials was investigated. The slurries with solids content of 62 vol% and viscosity of 0.3 Pa·s were prepared by adding self-made dispersant ANSP which was a mixture of AN-2000 and STP in mass ratio of 4 to 1. The alumina-spinel refractory was fabricated from the slurries by gelcasting process. The dry parts containing micro-sized alumina-spinel powders with 3.57wt% gel have the highest bending strength of 29.8 MPa and 17.6 MPa with 15:1 AM-MBAM and 4:1 MAM-MBAM respectively. The bending strength enhanced with the increase of reaction temperature. For example, to the 15 wt% 15:1 AM-MBAM gel premix, the bending strength of the parts gelled at 25°C and 55°C were 27.3 MPa and 32.4 MPa respectively. The bending strength also increased with the rising of the amount of monomer.


Glucagon has been suggested to be a mediator of intra-islet paracrine effect of insulin and somatostatin during nutritive stimulation. The aim of this study was to reveal possible intra-islet interactions between insulin, somatostatin and glucagon in a batch stimulation model with isolated pancreatic islets. Such interactions may influence stimulus-secretion experiments in this experimental model. In our hands arginine stimulated somatostatin secretion only in the presence of insulin antiserum. Furthermore, arginine-induced glucagon secretion was greatly increased following addition of insulin antiserum. The addition of glucagon antiserum inhibited these effects of insulin antiserum on somatostatin secretion. In conclusion, glucagon apparently represents the central mediator of arginine effects on somatostatin secretion in isolated rat pancreatic islets in batch stimulation experiments.


Many governments, civil society organizations, and international development agencies today seek to limit the use of pretrial detention in criminal justice. Motivations vary. Some believe that pretrial detention is ordered indiscriminately and employed for unreasonably long periods; others are concerned with the conditions of confinement and the burdens detention places on families; still others worry about the criminogenic effects of pretrial incarceration. But whatever the motive to limit the use of pretrial detention, it is difficult to imagine the effort succeeding without a good indicator of the extent of its use. Such an indicator has proven surprisingly elusive in countries at every income level. Indeed, it is possible that the effort to reduce pretrial detention in developing countries may actually be hindered by the indicator most commonly used there: the proportion of prison inmates on any given day that is not sentenced. This paper describes some of the flaws with this and other indicators, and shows how domestic governments and their development partners can use a basic and better indicator—the median duration of detention—as a catalyst for change. This paper demonstrates a simple and inexpensive way of developing this indicator – by obtaining administrative data already collected in most prisons and jails about the people who leave detention each month. Everywhere in the world, some number of detainees "exit" each month: some released to continue awaiting trial at liberty, others released at the end of their cases without a prison sentence, and still others whose pretrial detention has been changed to a sentence of incarceration following a criminal conviction. Virtually every prison and jail in the world records the dates of these "exits" whether they are actual releases or merely the reclassification of a pretrial detainee as a sentenced prisoner. Only these administrative data can generate an accurate measure of the duration of detention.


Abstract Principled methods for analyzing missing values, based chiefly on multiple imputation, have become increasingly popular yet can struggle to handle the kinds of large and complex data that are also becoming common. We propose an accurate, fast, and scalable approach to multiple imputation, which we call MIDAS (Multiple Imputation with Denoising Autoencoders). MIDAS employs a class of unsupervised neural networks known as denoising autoencoders, which are designed to reduce dimensionality by corrupting and attempting to reconstruct a subset of data. We repurpose denoising autoencoders for multiple imputation by treating missing values as an additional portion of corrupted data and drawing imputations from a model trained to minimize the reconstruction error on the originally observed portion. Systematic tests on simulated as well as real social science data, together with an applied example involving a large-scale electoral survey, illustrate MIDAS's accuracy and efficiency across a range of settings. We provide open-source software for implementing MIDAS.


The coalescence of a binary neutron star gives rise to electromagnetic emission, known as a kilonova, that is powered by radioactive decays of r-process nuclei. Observations of a kilonova associated with GW170817 provide a unique opportunity to study heavy element synthesis in the universe. However, the atomic data of r-process elements are not yet complete enough to decipher the light curves and spectral features of kilonovae. In this paper, we perform extended atomic calculations of neodymium (Nd, Z = 60) to study the impact of the accuracy in atomic calculations on astrophysical opacities. By employing multiconfiguration Dirac–Hartree–Fock and relativistic configuration interaction methods, we calculate the energy levels and transition data of electric dipole transitions for Nd ii, Nd iii, and Nd iv ions. Compared with previous calculations, our new results provide better agreement with the experimental data. The energy level accuracies achieved in the present work are 10%, 3%, and 11% for Nd ii, Nd iii, and Nd iv, respectively, compared to the NIST database. We confirm that the overall properties of the opacity are not significantly affected by the accuracies of the atomic calculations. The impact on the Planck mean opacity is up to a factor of 1.5, which affects the timescale of kilonovae by at most 20%. However, we find that the wavelength-dependent features in the opacity are affected by the accuracies of the calculations. We emphasize that accurate atomic calculations, in particular for low-lying energy levels, are important to provide predictions of kilonova light curves and spectra.


Recognizing the benefits of investment in rural road development, many countries have considered extensive rural road development programmes in their countries. As a result, vast networks of rural roads have been developed in many developing countries of the region. However, countries have faced a number of challenges in implementing such programmes. The major challenge in rural road development is both to expand road networks in order to provide access to remote areas and to upgrade and maintain already existing roads. The positive experiences of countries that have successfully met these challenges are worth sharing. In consideration of the importance and interest in the subject, the bulletin discusses on the following issues: Quantification of accessibility and prioritization of villages for local level planning; Choice of Bituminous Otta Seal Surfacing - An Economic Pavement Surfacing for Low Volume Roads; Development of a Sustainable Rural Roads Maintenance System in India: Key Issues; and Rural Road Maintenance in China.


The aim of this study was to elucidate an anatomic detail of ligamentous attachments in the periorbital areas of Korean cadavers. Sixty-one hemifaces of 35 Korean adult cadavers (age range, 43-101 years; 23 men and 9 women) were used. Fifty-five specimens were dissected, 12 used for tension measurement, and 6 for histologic study. Definite retaining ligaments were found in 42 (76.4%) of 55 dissected hemifaces. We named the retaining ligaments attached to the bony orbit periorbital ligament (PL). Periorbital ligament was in the medial and lateral orbital area. Medial PL (MPL) was curvilinear shaped and between an angle of +23.4 and −23.1 degrees on the horizontal at a midpupillary line. Lateral PL (LPL) was crescent shape and between an angle of +39.1 and −42.1 degrees. The MPL was vertical along the medical orbital rim just outer to the orbital septum. The width of MPL was 0.8 mm, and vertical length was 22.1 mm. The crescent-shaped LPL was located a few millimeters (up to 4 mm) lateral to the lateral orbital rim. The maximum width of LPL was 6.9 mm, and vertical length was 28.2 mm. The breaking strength of the LPL (14.2 ± 11.1 N) was significantly higher (P = 0.016) than that of the central lower eyelid (5.1 ± 2.5 N). The breaking strength of the MPL (8.4 ± 3.0 N) was also significantly higher (P = 0.013) than that of the central lower eyelid. However, there was no significant difference between LPL and MPL (P = 0.055). Knowledge of the retaining ligaments is conducive to performing the midfacial rejuvenating surgery.


This article presents the findings of a randomized controlled trial evaluation of the effects of a revised version of the volunteer mentoring programme, Time to Read. Participating children received two 30-minute mentoring sessions per week from volunteer mentors who carried out paired reading activities with the children. The current trial involved 512 children aged eight to nine years from 50 primary schools. The programme was found to be effective in improving decoding skills (d=+.15), reading rate (d=+.22) and reading fluency (d=+.14) and there was some evidence of a positive effect in relation to the children's aspirations for the future (d=+.11). However, no evidence was found of the programme having an effect on reading comprehension or reading confidence and enjoyment of reading. The article concludes by suggesting that mentoring programmes using non-specialist volunteers can be effective in improving foundational reading skills but would appear to be less effective in terms of improving higher-order skills such as comprehension. The article also suggests that such programmes are likely to be most effective if concentrating on core reading activities rather than attempting to address reading outcomes indirectly through improving children's confidence or wider enjoyment of reading.


I t has already been shown* that the charge acquired by small air bubbles in water is due to the selective adsorption of ions by the surface molecules. The bubble surface is considered to consist of water molecules which are partly or completely orientated. These, owing to their polar nature, have a resultant electric field and therefore attract ions of one sign while repelling those of the opposite sign. In the case of water the orientation is such as to attract negative ions from the water. These ions are adsorbed on to the surface of the bubble and give it a negative charge. At the same time some of the negative ions already adsorbed will be removed by the thermal agitation of the liquid and an equilibrium state will eventually be reached in which the number striking the surface per second is equal to the number re-evaporated from it. This adsorption of negative ions is accompanied by the capture of positive ions from the liquid. Any such positive ion striking an adsorbed negative ion may be bound to it by the electrostatic attraction so tha t a number of the negative ions are covered by positive ions and the charge on the bubble is due to the remaining uncovered negative ions. In this equilibrium state the surface may be represented very diagrammatically as below.


M-Si-Al-O-N glasses (where M = Y or rare earth cation) are intergranular phases in silicon nitride based ceramics in which the composition and volume fraction of these oxynitride glass phases determine the properties of the material, in particular, high temperature mechanical behaviour. Investigations on oxynitride glass formation and properties have shown that nitrogen increases the glass transition and softening temperatures, viscosity, elastic modulus and hardness. By changing the cation ratios or the type of rare earth cation incorporated, properties such as viscosity can be increased further. This paper provides an overview of oxynitride glasses and outlines the effect of composition on properties such as glass transition temperature and viscosity. These effects have important implications for silicon nitride based ceramics where amorphous intergranular films control high temperature properties such as creep resistance.


The problems of functionally graded materials are supposed to be studied incorporating their microstructures. The microelement method proposed here is characterized by this capability. In this work, by using the Fortran source program of microelement method established on the basis of existing finite element method, 3-D dynamic analysis of functionally graded material plates with different openings is performed. It can be known from the numerical results that the shapes and number of openings have a significant influence on natural frequency and basic vibration modes of functionally graded material plates, which is different from the results of homogeneous plates. These results are significant to applications of functionally graded material plates with openings.


The effects of bilateral lesions of the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) on daily rhythms of the activity of a gluconeogenic enzyme, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK), in the liver and kidney of rats were examined. PEPCK activity in the liver was considerably lowered by VMH lesions, but its rhythm remained similar to that of control liver. In contrast, PEPCK activity in the kidney was markedly elevated by the lesions. From these findings, it is suggested that the VMH is not the site of the master biological clock of the rhythm of PEPCK activity. Although these results do not exclude the possibility that hyperphagia and hyperinsulinemia associated with VMH lesions induce changes in the levels of PEPCK activities, they support the hypothesis that suppression of the sympathetic nervous system causes the changes in PEPCK activity through direct or indirect mechanisms. These findings also suggest that the reciprocal change in PEPCK activities in the liver and kidney after VMH lesions is related to complementary functions of the two organs in maintenance of homeostasis of blood glucose.


LAGO, the Latin American Giant Observatory, is an extended cosmic ray observatory, consisting of a wide network of water Cherenkov detectors located in 10 countries. With different altitudes and geomagnetic rigidity cutoffs, their geographic distribution, combined with the new electronics for control, atmospheric sensing and data acquisition, allows the realization of diverse astrophysics studies at a regional scale. It is an observatory designed, built and operated by the LAGO Collaboration (http://lagoproject.net/collab.html), a non-centralized alliance of 30 institutions from 11 countries. While LAGO has access to different computational frameworks, it lacks standardized computational mechanisms to fully grasp its cooperative approach. The European Commission is fostering initiatives aligned to LAGO objectives, especially to enable Open Science and its long-term sustainability. This work introduces the adaptation of LAGO to this paradigm within the EOSC-Synergy project, focusing on the simulations of the expected astrophysical signatures at detectors deployed at the LAGO sites around the World.


In our study PCR-temporal temperature gelelectrophoresis (TTGE) and MeltINGENY bioinformatic program were used to analyse the mutations in the genes of melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) and pituitary adenylate-cyclase activating polypeptide (PACAP) in cattle. Amplification of target DNA by PCR was performed with GC-clamp primers and non-GC-clamp primers in simplex PCR reactions. The fragments were separated by denaturing polyacrylamide gelelectrophoresis (denaturing agents: high temperature, urea) after PCR reactions.MC1R homozygous individuals were used for the reaction.
We concluded that MeltINGENY program makes the decision and detection system easier, and more simple as the melting profile of target sequence is determined by the software. In case of MC1R gene, PCR-TTGE method is appropriate for SNP detection, however PACAP gene polymorphism can not be identified by the method, because PACAP mutations are not included in melting domains, therefore PCR-TTGE cannot detect them.